Gangdong-gu Happiness School Manifesto Contest Grand Prize Winner

Students, Parents, and Teachers Directly Participate in Remodeling for Happy School Project Awarded... Positive Feedback on Space Welfare Concept "Changing Space Changes Children"

Opening Ceremony of the Han-Young-Jung Happiness School

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jeong-hoon) won the Grand Prize in the ‘Regional Culture Revitalization’ category at the 11th National Basic Local Government Heads Manifesto Best Practice Competition for its Happy School project.

The awarded case is the ‘Happy School’ project, where students and parents directly propose ideas and remodel school spaces with the help of experts.

Gangdong-gu, under the concept of ‘space welfare’ with the motto ‘When the space changes, the child changes,’ has been remodeling dull corridors, lobbies, backyards, and library spaces reminiscent of study rooms through the Happy School project, which was also a pledge of the 7th local government administration.

The project began with the awareness that most school facilities are rigid quadrilateral structures designed for easy surveillance and control, with monotonous colors and designs that hinder children’s communication and creativity.

Additionally, many opinions pointed out that unlike adults, children had no opportunity to voice their opinions about the places where they spend the most time.

Accordingly, the district dispatched experts to provide education enabling students, parents, and teachers to recognize problems in the spaces and directly propose necessary improvements and directions. The ideas proposed here were designed and constructed by experts to be recreated as satisfying and safe spaces.

Through this project, Myogok Elementary School in Godeok-dong transformed its shabby corridors into spaces where children can read and play together, and Gangsol Elementary School’s empty backyard was reborn as a play and rest area.

Hanyeong Middle School installed open bookshelves to allow sunlight into the previously poorly lit library. Seonsa High School converted the lobbies left on each floor into book caf?-style community spaces, receiving great acclaim from students and parents.

Since last year, the district has invested a total of 4.09 billion KRW to improve spaces in 33 schools and enhance color schemes in 6 schools through the Happy School project.

Notably, the project attracted much attention as it was not initiated by metropolitan governments or education offices, and Gangdong-gu’s Happy School project is being benchmarked by other cities and provinces as a model of educational administration.

Lee Jeong-hoon, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, said, “Winning the Manifesto Grand Prize makes us feel even more responsible for fulfilling our pledges. We will listen to the voices of students, parents, and teachers on the ground to create schools where children want to go and stay.”

The competition, co-hosted by the Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters and the Gyeonggi Research Institute and sponsored by Gyeonggi Province, received 353 entries from 144 local governments nationwide, with 172 advancing to the finals.

Gangdong-gu submitted entries in seven categories, including climate environment, regional culture revitalization, and newsletter broadcasting, with all three categories reaching the finals. Among them, it was honored with the top prize in the regional culture revitalization category.

Originally scheduled to be held over two days at Ajou University campus, the competition was conducted through non-face-to-face online judging via YouTube due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 centered in the metropolitan area.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.